Judge charges 4 Malians over kidnapping of Colombian nun

BAMAKO, Mali – A judge in Mali has charged four people in the kidnapping of a Colombian nun in February.

Prosecutor General Boubacar Sidiki Samake said Wednesday that four Malians were arrested Tuesday as part of investigations into the abduction of Gloria Cecilia Narvaez Argoti.

Armed gunmen seized her in the village of Karangasoo near the border with Burkina Faso. She had been working at a Catholic church there.

There has been no claim of responsibility for the kidnapping. The nun remains missing.

Extremists in Burkina Faso near Mali’s border still hold an Australian doctor hostage. Other recent Western hostages taken include a French-Swiss woman who had been living in northern Mali and an American who long had worked in Niger.

The Burkina Faso-Mali border region has been increasingly unstable.